Jisan Forest Resort

Jisan Forest Resort is located just outside Seoul to the southeast of the city in neighbouring Gyeonggi-do province, one of three ski hills clustered in the area along with nearby Yangji Pine and Konjiam. The distance from Jisan to Yangji is only a few miles as the crow flies, though it’s significantly further by road and if using public transport the two are accessed from different directions (see below).

As with all the hills in the immediate vicinity of Seoul, Jisan Forest Resort features a small ski area with impressive base facilities and a large hotel/condo development, plus the attached golf course which is so common in Korea. Jisan Forest is also the site of Korea’s most famous rock music festival, Valley Rock.

The terrain at Jisan Forest Resort is, to be frank, very uninspiring; the ski slopes are essentially just swathes of hillside from which the trees have been cleared, resulting in mostly wide open pistes which are great for beginners but not offering anything interesting to advanced riders. A total of 5 chairlifts give access to two top stations, with a few choices of descent from each, effectively giving you a handful of (very short) options; needless to say, if you can already ride you’ll exhaust these in an hour or so and will really need to be into riding park for Jisan to be worthwhile. Jisan Forest Resort does cater for this quite well, and it has the best terrain park found anywhere in Korea outside the larger Gangwon-do resorts:

For those learning or pushing on to intermediate, the terrain at Jisan is actually ideal, with gentle gradients and wide open slopes lower down, and some steeper sections to progress to at the top. For advanced riders, the terrain park is located on the lower part of the main piste; it’s a decent effort for such a small hill, with a row of medium to large kickers and various jib features usually set up, though unfortunately it doesn’t have its own chair so you have to lap the whole run each time (not that that takes very long).

Jisan Forest Resort is good for:

Riding park (best in the Seoul area)

Learning and progressing to intermediate.

Jisan Forest Resort is not so good for:

Access. Despite the close proximity to Seoul, public transport takes a long time and involves quite a long walk; the resort does run free shuttles, but they can be hard to arrange for foreign visitors and the schedules aren’t ideal (see below)

It’s small even by Korean standards i.e. tiny by international standards.

Jisan Forest Resort: Ticketing

Amazingly, Jisan Forest Resort is open until 4am every day, from 7am on weekends & holidays and 9am on other days. The ticketing is split into dawn (7:00-11:30), AM (9:00-13:30), PM (12:30-17:00), Night Time (18:30-23:00), and Late Night (20:30-4:00) slots, and combinations of the above; as is standard in Korea, they have a grooming & maintenance break from 17:00 to 18:30.

The cheapest ticket is ‘dawn’ only at 49,000 won, up to 69,000 won for ‘full day’ (9:00-17:00); half-day tickets are 56,000 or 65,000 won depending on the specific time slot or combination of time slots. Here’s the 2016/17 rates:

Jisan Forest: accommodation

You can also search for hotels in Icheon here; be careful with the listings in Yongin though, as although they’re only a few km from Jisan they’re on the wrong side of the mountain and it’s actually a long way around by road. The hotels in Icheon are better for access.

Airbnb is also a great choice for Seoul – hosts usually have it set up so you can arrive & check in by yourself without having to wait around or meet anyone, and the housing standards are decent with underfloor heating and excellent internet connections as standard. If you haven’t used Airbnb before, you can get a 35-dollar discount off your first rental by signing up through Snow Guide Korea; simply click on this link and register!

If you do want to stay at Jisan Forest Resort itself, accommodation is available in their condos at the base of the slopes; see here for details.

How to get to Jisan Forest Resort

The resort offers free shuttle buses from points all over the city, including all major hubs like Gangnam, Jamsil, Sadang, Myeongdong, Itaewon, and Hongdae, taking just 45 minutes or so to/from Jamsil and 90 minutes or so for Hongdae. These are absolutely perfect for getting home, as you can just rock up in the car park and jump on whichever bus suits you (there’s a shuttle bus office there with English-speaking staff on hand if you can’t read the Korean signs and need to check which bus); the PM skiing time ends at 17:00 and the buses go at 17:30.

Unfortunately, for casual visitors from overseas these shuttles aren’t so easy to use to get to Jisan; you have to reserve a spot at least the day before, and to do that online you need a Korean ID number (for what reason I can’t fathom). As explained on their website:

“We also offer a free shuttle bus service which can be reserved after registering on our website. So far, only Korean citizens can register on our website, so if you’d like to make a reservation through the internet please ask a Korean friend or acquaintance for assistance.”

Which is very weak indeed, and they really should sort it out especially with Pyeongchang 2018 just around the corner! In the meantime, they also suggest calling them to make a reservation, phone number 031-644-1552~3 as per here; however, I’ve never tried that either as another issue with the shuttles is that they go out to Jisan at 7 or 8am, arriving around 9, and return at 6pm, which gives you a full 9 hours at the hill. That’s a really long time to be at such a small hill, and unless you actually want to make a full day of it like that it’s best to head out to Jisan by public transport, then return by shuttle in the evening.

Here’s the 2016/17 departure schedule for buses up to Jisan (click to enlarge):

To instead get there by train or public bus, you first need to head to Icheon, 이천 (don’t confuse this with Incheon, 인천, where the main airport is located); you can either take the bus from Dong Seoul Terminal (East Seoul Terminal) next to Gangbyeon Station on Line 2, or go the whole way by Metro to Icheon Station on the Gyeonggang Line. Then from Icheon Bus Terminal or Icheon Station, take local bus number 12 (this bus originates from the bus terminal, and Icheon Station is the first stop) and get off at the Jisan Resort (지산리조트) stop – it’s the penultimate stop, taking about 35 minutes. If you have a T-Money card, you can also use it on the bus.

The bus stop is opposite this row of shops:

From the stop it’s still about a 20-minute walk up to the hill; after getting off the bus, don’t follow the main road over the bridge, but walk up the road alongside the stream. Jisan Forest Resort is marked on the road signs:

A short distance up you’ll see the big white Jisan Forest Resort sign:

Keep going up past all the ski rental shops, and you’ll see the pistes on the hillside up ahead:

If you take the bus from Dong Seoul Terminal the total time is about 2h 15m from Dong Seoul to Jisan Forest Resort. If you take the Metro, of course it depends where you start from; taking Gangnam Station as an example starting point, the total time to Jisan Forest Resort is around 2h 30m

Clearly, this is much slower than the shuttles, and also costs a few thousand won instead of being free, so if you’re happy to be at the resort all day and can manage to make a reservation, the shuttles are much better.

(If it all sounds like too much hassle, Konjiam is the most convenient hill to Seoul)

The base facilities at Jisan Forest Resort are excellent, as is typical in Korea:

Any questions about Jisan Forest Resort? Leave a comment below!

For more Seoul area ski resorts, see here; for full reviews of every Korean ski resort, see here

30 comments on “Jisan Forest Resort”

Hi yoyo, yes you’d still need to pay for a lift ticket. If you’ve never tried skiing before, the best thing would be to take a lesson – otherwise you’ll be spending money to rent equipment you don’t know how to use! If you don’t want to do all that, you could perhaps go tobogganing instead

Hi again Yoyo, the tobogganing rate at Korean resorts is usually around 20000 – 25000 (for half a day).

The shuttle buses leave Jisan at 17:30, and they stop in many places… do you know where you’ll be staying? If you can tell me which area your hotel’s in, I can advise you about which shuttle bus to take. Cheers!

Hi! I saw in Jisan website it is already open. However, I dont know how to reserve since there is no link. I sent an email to the email address at the bottom of the page but I am not receiving any reply. I will be staying at Hongdae and I read in your blog that they have a free shuttle bus from there. Any other way to find out how to reserve? Thank you somuch!

Hi Cyn, yes Jisan is open now. There’s no need to make a reservation for lift tickets, you can just buy your lift pass at the ticket window when you arrive.

They don’t respond to my emails either… or even on their own Facebook page! Very frustrating.

There is indeed a shuttle bus to/from Hongdae, but to take it to Jisan in the morning you do need to make a bus reservation. This will basically be impossible for you to do by yourself – you’ll need to get help from a Korean friend or acquaintance. Alternatively, make your way there by public transport as described above.

When you return in the evening, the shuttle buses all wait in the main parking lot and you can just turn up and get on. There’ll be around 20 buses waiting so just ask the drivers which one is for Hongdae. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions!

Hi there,
thanks for the good work of sharing knowledge, jisan website would be well advised to just link to this page. It’s seriously a headache to understand how to get around.
Will visit Korea from Feb 1st to 4th, arriving at Incheon airport. (thanks for the reminder about difference between Incheon and Icheon, it indeed got me lost). Understood we then take airport bus to Icheon Bus terminal. Understood also that bus 12 can bring us to Jisan skiing place. Now to increase our skiing time potential, we plan on finding an accommodation in Icheon but find nothing on expedia/agoda. Do you know how to find something? or would you advise that it is a bad idea to stay in Icheon?
Ultimately, is there any place nearby that could ensure both cheap accomodation and quick transportation to Jisan?
Cheers
Ben and Ping

As for booking near Jisan, try here. Be careful with the listings in Yongin though – although they’re only a few km from Jisan, they’re on the wrong side of the mountain and it’s a long way around by road. Better to book one of the ones listed in Icheon e.g. Eden Paradise.

I have to say, Icheon isn’t a particularly attractive or exciting town to stay in. If your main priority is skiing at Jisan then it’s convenient, but don’t expect too much of the town itself. It does have plenty of restaurants & shops, though.

Hope this helps – let me know if you manage to make a booking or not, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask!

Hi, it’s possible by bus & Seoul Metro, but very slow. You could take the bus from Jisan to Icheon Station (as described above), then ride Gyeonggang Line > Bundang Line > Everline (changing at Imae and Giheung). This would take a good 2.5 hours.

There may be a more direct way just by bus, but I’m not sure. Looking at the map I’d guess a taxi would take around 30 minutes and cost somewhere in the region of 30000 won.

Hi Zohar, sorry for the slow response, I was travelling back to Korea.

Yeah, I know how frustrating the Jisan shuttle buses are to book! Definitely get your friend to call them for you, it’s the only way you’ll be able to do it. And yes, the shuttle buses drop off at the same points they pick up from.

Hello Simon
Would Jisan be a good place to take my kid sledding?
Can we rent snow attire there if it is just for playing with snow and is admission required.
Lastly, are the snow there natural or mainly artificial .
We would be in Seoul from 14 to 22 dec. when would be a good time to be there .
Thank you

Hello again, actually every Korean resort uses man-made snow, in addition to the snow that falls naturally. So, wherever you go, the snow will be a mix of both. The resorts with the best amount of natural snow are High1 and Yongpyong… but they’re quite far, and really it isn’t necessary to go so far for sledding. The snow at Jisan will be fine!

I’m not sure actually, sorry… I haven’t been there yet this season, and their website doesn’t say when the sledding opens. And they never usually reply to messages… where did you read that? I think if you want to be sure, it would probably be best to call them and ask directly

Hello Simon
Thank you for sharing. Find this website very useful.
We will be in Seoul from 14/12 to 22/12. During this period will the snow at Jisan be real or artificial?
Our intention is for my little boy to play with snow and do some sledding …
Thank you

Thanks for this wonderful website on the snow guide. I’ve some questions and hope you can help me on this.

I’m planning to bring my kids just to play the snow, take some pics and spend the time at the snow area for half day. Apart from Jisan can you recommend any snow resort that is easy to travel from Seoul for half day trip (depart in the morning and return maybe after lunch) with convenient public transport or free shuttle and doesn’t need to pay entrance or lift fee.

In terms of travel, by far the easiest resort near Seoul is Konjiam. They have free shuttles which don’t require reservation – I recommend taking the shuttle from Sadang Station, as it’s easy to find and only takes about 40-45 minutes. However, at Konjiam the snow is separated from the base area by the ticket barriers, so if you want to actually play on the snow you’d need to at least buy sledding tickets.

If you don’t want to do that, then Jisan is fine, but it’s just a little tricky to get there. You may want to consider Vivaldi Park instead – the shuttle takes 90 minutes, but it’s free and easy to arrange and leaves from near Myeongdong which is very convenient, and once you arrive you can walk & play on the snow without paying any ticket fees. Also, Jisan & Vivaldi both have the usual cafes & restaurants in the ski house, but Vivaldi also has a big underground shopping centre so there’s more to do if you start feeling too cold outside!

My girlfriend and I made a “last-minute” decisiin to go snowboarding at Jisan tomorrow. Which means its too late to book the shuttle bus now (I’ve tried calling them a few minutes ago).

Do you think I’ll have any luck trying for the shuttle bus tomorrow at Hongdae? Or should I just wake up earluer ti make the trip to Icheon and bus there? (What time does Icheon bus start its service?)

Hi Leon, if you go to the Hongdae pickup spot, and there’s a bus there, and it has space, they’ll probably take you. But in the (unlikely) event no-one’s reserved the bus, there won’t be a bus; and in the event it’s fully-booked they won’t be able to take you. In short, there’s a decent chance it would work, but there’s no guarantee. If you don’t fancy the risk, just head there via Icheon. I’m not sure what time the number 12 bus starts, but I’d expect it to be running by the time you reach Icheon.

I am planning to go to Vivaldi Park on Feb 2018 with my parents.From what I understand, it will take around 2.30hrs from Hongik Univ. station by free shuttle bus. Please do let me know if there is a toilet in the bus or will the bus stop for the passengers to go to toilet. It’s quite a long journey for my parents without toilet(I couldn’t find any info. about that from website).

No, I’m afraid there are no toilets on these shuttle buses, and they don’t stop. However, if you take the free foreigner shuttle from near Myeongdong (it goes from Euljiro 1-ga Station) it only takes 90 minutes, so hopefully that would be ok for them? The details are on this page

hi. i just want to ask if the ski resort is open all-year round? im planning a trip to korea in june (seatsale) and i was hoping to see snow and experience it for the first time hehe. im hoping it’s open in june this 2018